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Dion McGregor (1922–1994)



The Dream World Of Dion McGregor (He Talks In His Sleep) (1964)
  1. Val
  2. Our Town
  3. The Gift
  4. Picnic
  5. Peony
  6. The Mogul
  7. The Swimming Pool
  8. The Mustard Battle
  9. Dear Uncle
  10. The Operation



The Further Somniloquies Of Dion McGregor
  1. The Scavenger Hunt
  2. Naughty Mum
  3. The Snail
  4. Food Roulette
  5. South Sea Squirm
  6. Reginald
  7. Midget City
  8. Tenses
  9. Snowflakes
  10. Sew That Mouth
  11. All Over Evelyn
  12. Snail Time
  13. Grease Lift
  14. Friendly Little Missile
  15. Concentric Circles
  16. Mansion For Sale
  17. Mr. Crench
  18. Dead To The World
  19. Raining
  20. Wake May For Mona
  21. Bleeding Tree
  22. Down From The Wall
  23. The Horseshoe Crabs
  24. The Wet Parade



Dreams Again
  1. The Flight 5:10
  2. A City So Nice 2:56
  3. Little Willie Song 4:14
  4. Wha Deboha Yo Ya ? 2:19
  5. Dumb Fart 0:27
  6. The C.L. Contest 2:03
  7. The Collection 8:31
  8. Cup Your Spoon 3:23
  9. The Wagon 4:42
  10. Jack Paar Show 1:57
  11. Tattoo 8:28
  12. Ass Bit 0:0
  13. What A Woman 1:52
  14. The Great Waltz Party 2:54
  15. The Survey 5:33
  16. The Food And What To Do With It 2:39
  17. Don't Break The Mailman 2:38
  18. Vulvina 6:53
  19. 16 Tickets To Schenectady 6:31
  20. Thought For The Day 0:31



    Dion McGregor (1922–1994) was an American songwriter known for talking in his sleep. An LP of his dream diatribes – The Dream World Of Dion McGregor (He Talks In His Sleep) – was released to minor acclaim by Decca Records in 1964. A book of the same name, containing the transcripts of a wider selection of McGregor's dreams, and with illustrations by Edward Gorey, was also published in 1964.

    McGregor would essentially narrate his dreams at conversational volume. As a narrator of his (often terrifying) dreams, Dion adopted various personas but frequently established a fey, argumentative, insolent approach to the subject at hand – be it a hot air balloon trip to the moon with a group of multi-ethnic children, a frantic journey around New York, or a tattooing job on a woman's tongue.

    As a songwriter, McGregor's biggest success came when his song "Where Is The Wonder" (cowritten with roommate Michael Barr) was recorded by Barbra Streisand on her hit album My Name Is Barbra (1965). He was unable to find much success afterwards, however, and by the 1980s had given up on songwriting. Critic Joslyn Layne writes that "Despite his lack of success as a song lyricist, McGregor's narration of his vivid dreamlife provided a more unique artistic contribution than any usually recorded."

    McGregor died in 1994, but researcher Phil Milstein gathered recordings of McGregor's dream-speech considered too risque to be released in the 1960s and assembled them for the 1999 album, Dion McGregor Dreams Again, released on Tzadik Records. A third album, The Further Somniloquies of Dion McGregor: More Outrageous Recordings of the World's Most Renowned Sleeptalker was assembled by Toronto poet Steve Venright and released in August 2004 on the Torpor Vigil Industries label. A previously unreleased recording, "Naughty Pussy", was released in April 2011 as part of Awkwardcore Compilation #1 on the Awkwardcore Records label. A fourth album was released in July 2014, again assembled by Venright for Torpor Vigil, called Dreaming Like Mad with Dion McGregor: Yet More Outrageous Recordings of the World's Most Renowned Sleeptalker.

    He was born in New York City.

    Another of his roommates in the 1960s was film maker and fellow Edward Gorey enthusiast Peter de Rome. McGregor appears in de Rome's film "Mumbo Jumbo" (1971).